Cinema
The best films of all time according to 480 of the greatest living filmmakers
Along with the voting of Greatest Films of All Time, the legendary magazine Sight and Sound publishes the choice of a large group of relevant directors.
Every 10 years since 1992, Sight and Sound has supplemented its famous list of the best films in the History of Cinema with the one that emerges from the votes of the world's leading directors. From Scorsese to Bong Joon-ho, the result of the survey is less groundbreaking than the general one, but at the same time sheds light on the latter.
In 1992, 101 directors voted. Decade after decade this number has been increasing. It rose to 358 filmmakers in 2012, and in this year 2022, the fourth edition, the number of those involved rises to the not inconsiderable figure of 480. Those chosen, as the magazine itself comments, include "experimental, arthouse, mainstream and genre filmmakers from around the world," remarking that "in every case, the voter is a director of note."
A rather more "normal" list than the general list
Here we leave you with the top 20 of the list of the 100 best films in the Greatest Films of All Time as voted by "many of today’s greatest living filmmakers.” The result contains three-way and even four-way ties, making the visual ranking a bit strange.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968).
2. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941).
3. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972).
4. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953), Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman, 1975).
6. Vértigo (Alfred Hitchock, 1958), Fellini 8 ½ (Federico Fellini, 1963).
8. Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972).
9. Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966), In the Mood for Love (Won Kar Wai, 2000), Close-up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1989).
12. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976), Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975).
14. Beau travail (Claire Denis, 1998), Seven samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954). À bout de souffle (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960), Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979).
18. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979).
19. A Woman under the Influence (John Casavetes, 1974).
20. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950), Ladri di biciclette (Vitorio De Sica, 1948).
As you can see, there are significant changes concerning the magazine's general list. Godard and the beginning of modern cinema represented by The End of the Line in 1959, Scorsese with his famous Taxi Driver, and the very personal Tarkowski with two titles. Also with two titles is Kubrick, who crowns the first place with 2001: A Space Odyssey, while the presence of Barry Lindon surprises us.
Source | Sight and Sound magazine